Agenda and minutes

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

a)  To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 26^th February 2026.

b)  Matters Arising

The minutes of the meeting held on 26^th February 2026 were agreed and signed as a true record. There were no matters arising.

Briefing Note of the Director of Childrens Services and Education.

The Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) received a briefing note and presentation of the Director of Children’s Services and Education that provided an update on the implementation of the Best Start in Life (BSiL) Strategy and Local Area Plan (2026–2029), set out Coventry’s statutory Good Level of Development (GLD) targets and the approach to delivery through Best Start Family Hubs and partners, and confirmed the proposed approach to governance, workforce, and monitoring.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People attended the meeting for this item of business.

The briefing note and presentation highlighted:

·  Coventry’s early years position, statutory GLD targets, and delivery through Best Start Family Hubs

·  The national requirement: a Best Start in Life Strategy and Local Area Action Plan in operation by April 2026 and Coventry’s response

·  Coventry: Good Level of Development (GLD) - current position and trend (Reception 2024/25), and the position by the end of academic year 2027/28

·  Current Coventry delivery system working in collaboration to support children in early years and have the best start in life, and to achieve a good level of development 

·  Best Start in Life: National Strategy - HM Government Best Start in Life Strategy 2026–2029

·  Bold Start, Bright Futures (2026–2029) - Plan to Improve Child Development and Health Outcomes from pre-Birth to 5 

·  Best Start Family Hub and Healthy Babies Investment, Workforce and Branding

·  Next Steps - completion of the Best Start in Life Strategy and Local area Action plan by mid-late April and publication; establishment of the multiagency governance for this ambitious programme of work and performance dashboard; refocus of the interventions and service offer to children in most need (boys, children learning EAL, FSM, SEND) and geographical wards to narrow the gap; close monitoring of the impact of the local area action plan to ensure outcomes are being delivered and targets are likely to be met

In considering the briefing note and the presentation by officers, the Board discussed issues, asked questions and received responses from officers and the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People and the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills on matters including:

·  The Government required the production of the Strategy, which aligned with our Marmot City priorities, by July 2026

·  The Authority worked with a range of partners, Education and Children’s Services, Family Hubs, SEND services, schools, and early years providers, and there was already a work stream that was multi-agency supported and an operational stakeholder group in operation

·  A new governance process would be established for the Strategy – Best Start in Life Partnership Programme Board and also a Multi-Agency Operational Stakeholder Group, who would establish its own Service Level Action Plans

·  The Outcomes Framework would be shared across the partnership

·  The targets were challenging but achievable through partnership working and commitment

·  The drivers for the Strategy needed to remain the same

·  Changing culture could be challenging and there were known and unknown challenges

·  There was a need to access information about  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

Briefing Note of the Director of Childrens Services and Education.

The Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) received a briefing note and presentation of the Director of Children’s Services and Education that provided an update on Coventry’s progress in design and implementation for the Families First Partnership Programme.

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People attended the meeting for this item of business.

The briefing note and presentation highlighted:

·  Publication of the Department for Education new guidance on the Families First Partnership Programme (FFPP) to transform the whole system of help, support and protection for children and families

·  The Council’s work supported the implementation of the Programme which aligned with delivering the One Coventry approach and strengthening the system around families

·  Coventry brought together partners from across the local system, including Council services, health, policing, education, and the voluntary and community sector, to develop an initial response to the national programme

·  Work was built on Coventry’s well-established strengths, including its Family Hub offer and mature, targeted Early Help system, which already provided coordinated accessible support to children, young people and families in the city

·  The establishment of a multi-agency transformation team bringing together officers from education, health, policing, and the Local Authority

·  A focus on shaping the Family Help Service Model, ensuring that future developments aligned with national reform requirements and enhanced Coventry’s existing integrated approach

·  Establishing a robust foundation for the next stage of development, including further design, testing, and phased implementation through 2026.

·  Preparation for a wider set of developments required through Families First

·  The integration of Family Help and Child Protection, the strengthening of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements, and the delivery of more consistent, relationship-based practice for children and families

·  The design of the Multi-Agency Child Protection Team model to sit alongside Family Help as a core component of the future integrated system of support, safeguarding, and protection

·  The Multi-Agency Child Protection Team model which built on and evolved the current Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub arrangements supporting more consistent thresholds, improved information-sharing, and stronger collective ownership of risk

·  The integration of the Child Protection Conference Chair function into the Lead Child Protection Practitioner role

·  Next steps: continue with local planning and development of enhanced partner-involved multi-agency arrangements; development of a test-and-learn pilot focused on end-to-end pathway from Family Help through to Multi-Agency Child Protection; ensuring that the Family Help element of the model was fully embedded, robust and delivering impact; and the continuation of testing and refining key components of the Multi-Agency Child Protection model

·  Coventry’s funding position – the Department for Education’s commitment to four years of funding to support Coventry in delivering the full scope of the Families First Programme from 2025/26 to 2028/29

·  Governance Arrangements – the Families First Partnership Board, the Coventry Children’s Safeguarding Partnership; and the Children and Education Steering Group, would provide a coherent structure that supported both strategic leadership and operational delivery in line with national expectations and local priorities

In considering the briefing note and the presentation by officers, the Board discussed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 42.

Briefing Note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator.

The Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2) received a briefing note of the Scrutiny Co-ordinator that detailed issues that were on the Board’s Work Programme for meetings of the Board for 2025/26. As this was the last meeting of the year, the Board noted the items they had considered over the course of the year, the list of matters to be considered on a date to be confirmed, and the list of matters to be considered in the next Municipal Year.

Further to Resolution 4) in Minute 41/25 above, an item headed ‘Early Years Strategy and Best Start in Life Annual Report on Progress’ be added to the Work Programme.  

RESOLVED that the Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Board (2):

1)  Notes the matters considered during the Municipal Year 2025/26, the list of matters to be considered on a date to be confirmed, and the list of matters to be considered in the Municipal Year 2026/27.

2)  Agrees that ‘Early Years Strategy and Best Start in Life Annual Report on Progress’ be added to the Work Programme for future consideration.

Any other items of business which the Chair decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of public business.

Ofsted Inspection

The Board noted that the outcome of the recent Ofsted Inspection would be published in a report on 18^th May 2026.

The Chair thanked all officers in Children’s Social Care and Education Services for their continued dedicated hard work supporting families and children in the city and for their work on the inspection and asked that this be placed on record.

Thanks

The Board thanked Councillor Kelly for her work Chairing the Board for 2025/26 and asked that this be placed on record.